Alert: USMNT Instagram posted 4 club highlights in last 240 posts: ALL FOUR of Zardes Roldan & Arriola

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by xbhaskarx, Oct 17, 2021.

  1. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #1 xbhaskarx, Oct 17, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2021
    Well that factoid might raise a few eyebrows with the fanbase…







    Note this is about the USMNT Instagram not the USMNT Twitter account, even though it’s being discussed on Twitter.

    1449765604517371911 is not a valid tweet id


    Wonder who makes these decisions and why?

    I don't think there is much of anything at all to this story from a few days ago...
    Norwich Coach- US wants to focus on players playing in American league for WC qualifying.
    ...but this is certainly not a good look in light of that story.

    Meanwhile here's where the vast majority of the fanbase is at in terms of the current USMNT player pool:
    Hundreds voted and the results are in! Here is the 23 man squad chosen by r/ussoccer after this 3rd round of polling.

    [​IMG]
    It seems like there is a pretty big disconnect between US Soccer and the USMNT fanbase...
     
  2. don Lamb

    don Lamb Member+

    mine
    United States
    Aug 31, 2017
    Big disconnect?? Those 23 players are the same players that Berhalter is calling in.

    #s 1, 5, and 14 were injured last window. One has a total of like 10 professional games. Another plays for a mid table Eredivise team and nowhere near most fans' radar until very recently. Another was completely underappreciated by the fanbase until he moved to Italy recently (even though Berhalter had already started integrating him). Many others are young and have very little professional experience.

    Still, this list, by and large, is the group that Berhalter is moving toward, but a.) it's a process, and b.) more than just 23 players are needed given injuries and three game windows.

    This is beyond silly, and using that point about social media posts to push this bs..... puh-lease.

    I'm not saying that the fans shouldn't express their opinion or be passionate about their thoughts on the team, but this is just plain nutso. The disconnect is that Berhalter and his staff are operating in reality whereas the fanbase thinks this is a video game.
     
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  3. VictoryWePredict4Thee

    VictoryWePredict4Thee BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Jul 4, 2019
    We don't like bad players. Not surprising.
     
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  4. VictoryWePredict4Thee

    VictoryWePredict4Thee BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Jul 4, 2019
    You clearly didn't read the list.
     
  5. gomichigan24

    gomichigan24 Member+

    Jul 15, 2002
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I’m fairly certain this means absolutely nothing. I doubt that Greg Berhalter or anyone else is telling whoever does social media for US Soccer to focus on some players over others.
     
  6. no exit

    no exit Member+

    DC United
    United States
    Nov 20, 2019
    Maybe the USMNT instagram account holder is part of the MLS cartel but the Twitter operator is a holdover from the Klinsmann era. Or there's a Trilateral Commission angle, probably.

    (to be more serious here, the CLUB highlights part is doing a lot of work w/r/t the USMNT insta account point. Basically every highlight from, for example, the Panama game are from internationally based players...hardly what you'd do if you were operating some sort of MLS propaganda account.)
     
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  7. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Did you read the title of this very thread that you're posting in?

    23 on the fan list: NONE OF of Roldan Arriola Lletget Zardes

    Gregg's WCQ call ups: ~25 INCLUDING ALL OF Roldan Arriola Lletget Zardes
    USMNT Instagram: ONLY Roldan Arriola Zardes in 240 posts going back to August (no Lletget but then has he done anything to highlight in that period?)

    You:
    [​IMG]
     
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  8. no exit

    no exit Member+

    DC United
    United States
    Nov 20, 2019
    Because I'm bored, the MLS quota thing doesn't make a ton of practical sense when you really think about it. What purpose does it serve?

    * Tickets?: Seems dubious. Seattle has sellouts already; it's hard to believe any Sounder fan is like, gotta go because Roldan's called up. For another angle, I go to DC United games all the time. I've never seen a single Paul Arriola jersey there. Other national team players are certainly salable commodities in DC, to be fair.

    * TV?: Again, hard to believe anyone's watching Paul Arriola run very hard off the ball and saying, man, gotta watch some MLS.

    * Transfer market?: OK, then why are the majority of Gregg's MLS call-ups veteran players -- who aren't getting sold due to lack of interest? If transfer market pumping were the goal, you'd see Cole Bassett be Gregg's fave Colorado Rapid; Kevin Paredes Berharlter's number-one DC United guy; and no one at all from the Crew or Sounders.

    * Why does MLS act the way it does if there's a quota?: MLS's website goes hell-for-leather to cover USMNT (and Canada) games. Yet they mostly focus on the players fans consider stars (and for good reason). Which means you mostly hear Phonzie Davies and (various USMNT) talk. It also means, say, Ricardo Pepi first featured among their talking heads as a certain El Tri pick-up.

    Believing there's an MLS quota -- but one serving no discernible deeper purpose -- requires you believe many people are quite dumb. Obviously that happens all the time, but I think the likelier explanation is one person (Gregg Berhalter) has some blind spots.
     
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  9. Ironbound

    Ironbound Member+

    Jul 1, 2009
    You think that’s bad, I just went to the USMNT MySpace page and the last four photos are of Taylor Twellman, Brian Ching, Steve Ralston, and Pablo Mastroeni!!
     
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  10. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Hmmm...
     
  11. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In fairness to the USMNT Instagram account, these are four of the players with the most minutes under Gregg (through 10/12)... so maybe it makes sense to only push their highlights?

    1. Arriola
    3. Lletget
    6. Zardes
    7. Roldan
     
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  12. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #12 xbhaskarx, Oct 18, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2021
    Maybe Steve Zakuani runs the USMNT Insta account?
    1449472283966259201 is not a valid tweet id

    Pay no attention to the fact that Roldan has ZERO GOALS 1 assist in 29 games for the USMNT!
    This is seriously Pravda-level s***

    Exciting times! (back to Swansea's reserves?)





    Protect the chosen one!

    [​IMG]

     
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  13. ebbro

    ebbro Member+

    Jun 10, 2005
    First Beerholder texts players their starting status the night before a game and now this?!?!? F' it, I'm done.
     
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  14. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    #14 Clint Eastwood, Oct 18, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2021
    Why hasn't the USMNT insta posted highlights about Pepi in club soccer lately?
    Maybe because he hasn't played a game with FC Dallas since October 2nd.
    There's that. Its also hard to find friggin' highlights of FCD doing anything positive.

    The USSF probably have some intern running the Instagram account.

    The USSF is asking for donations so they can run youth camps and people think they have some sort of social media team and strategy. I won't be surprised if they post MLS highlights because they have the authority/permission to do so.
     
  15. don Lamb

    don Lamb Member+

    mine
    United States
    Aug 31, 2017
    Which players, besides the guy who has about 10 professional appearances, was not in camp last window?
     
  16. don Lamb

    don Lamb Member+

    mine
    United States
    Aug 31, 2017
    27 were called in last camp. 23 were on the fan list That means that four more players than on the fan list had to be called. Three were injured, and it was deemed to not be an ideal time to bring another. That means that several who are not on the list had to be brought in.

    It makes complete sense that Berhalter wanted some guys familiar with the region to go to Panama to try to get a result there. Did he get it right? No, I don't think so, but the fanbase is out to lunch if they are getting up in arms over this roster.

    Zardes - Most had him as our second best striker coming into last window.

    Roldan - The guy has had a very good season for one of the top teams in MLS and has been consistent for years.

    Arriola - Not a fan of this player at all, but he brings something to the table on the defensive side for sure.

    Lletget - Decent player, but he's not as good as our other midfield options. That is obvious, but he brings experience and is the kind of player that I can understand why Berhalter trusted him (before this window). Chances are, he played himself off the team. Probably not immediately, but he will certainly be phased out if other midfield options stay healthy. That's part of the process of transitioning from older to younger players. This isn't FIFA.

    This argument about the roster last window is absolutely insane. You would think that Berhalter called mostly old MLS players instead of a bunch of very young European based players.
     
  17. don Lamb

    don Lamb Member+

    mine
    United States
    Aug 31, 2017
    It's been shown that most of the minutes that these guys have been given at the beginning of Gregg's tenure (a time when many of the younger players were simply not ready for international play) or during a time when the European part of the pool was not available.

    These numbers are basically meaningless. Why aren't we looking at the number of minutes that Berhalter has given during WCQ?
     
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  18. don Lamb

    don Lamb Member+

    mine
    United States
    Aug 31, 2017
    Berhalter showing some love to a player!!!!! Fire Berhalter!!!!!!!

    He's gonna play Arriola every minute of every game through 2026. Quick, we have to do something!!!!
     
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  19. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    #19 Clint Eastwood, Oct 18, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2021
    Not only were they not available, most hadn't "broken out" yet. You couldn't call up Matthew Hoppe in 2019, now could you? Or Pepi. Or Pefok, because he hadn't committed. Or Dike, because he was drafted in 2020. Or Gioacchini. Weah missed most of 2019 with an injury. The list goes on and on. So who were you calling up at forward in 2019? When we opened back up, we were so thin that we were calling in guys like Soto (who has since fallen off the face of the planet). It was Sargent, Morris (until he too got hurt), and Zardes.

    Zardes was the leading scorer for the USMNT in 2019. There's that little fact that people seem to ignore. We were calling him up, but he was also delivering. Scored a brace in that Nations League game against Canada in 2019. Paul Arriola was top 5 in 2019 goal-scoring. As was Morris, for that matter.

    In fact, who was the top scorer in the Nations League for any nation? Overall?
    Jordan Morris if my memory serves me correctly, and he missed the last 2 games.
    [Edit: Leading scorer was a tie. Morris and Weston Mckennie.]
     
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  20. don Lamb

    don Lamb Member+

    mine
    United States
    Aug 31, 2017
    The absurdity of it all is frustrating. The thing is, when Berhalter finally does get to the ideal lineup that has been developing this entire time, fans will say, "It's about time that Berhalter FINALLY learned what we fans have known all along!" without realizing that the process had to unfold pretty much like it has for a reason.

    How many of us even knew who Yunus Musah was in 2019? Many of the other guys were not around yet either, and you don't just cast aside established players who are not as talented as the new guys as soon as those guys become available. It's a........ process.

    Still 12 months to go before the roster needs to be ready, by the way. He hasn't been perfect by any means, but kudos to Berhalter for integrating (and recruiting in some cases) the young talent that he has -- that is no small task.
     
  21. CyphaPSU

    CyphaPSU Member+

    Mar 16, 2003
    Not Far
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks for the laughs, guys. This thread has put a needed smile on my face this morning.
     
  22. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    The much anticipated Third Thread on the pro-MLS conspiracy within the USMNT. Three times as good as the First Thread and twice as good at the Second Thread.
     
  23. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Yup.

    Even Sergino Dest hadn't committed yet when Berhalter took over.

    He's almost completely overhauled the roster from early 2019.

    And lest we forget, Arriola is only 26.
    Those of us who've been around awhile remember when it was Paul Arriola that fans were demanding a call up for. The outrage on these boards when Arriola wasn't being called in from Mexico. He was a regular starting in the 2013/2014 season for Tijuana, but wasn't called up to the USMNT until 2016. Now its Arriola's turn as he's supposedly the terrible player and people are demanding the callup of the next guy.

    We know what Paul Arriola is because we've seen it since 2016. He's fine at the CONCACAF level. He's proven that over and over. He's been a key player on two Gold Cup winning teams. So he's our depth when needed. Reyna and Pulisic aren't available? Arriola is a guy that Berhalter knows and trusts. Every coach has "his guys."

    I just think those guys as a group didn't get the job done in Panama. We've seen each one of them do a better job against similar competition. Even against Mexico, in the case of Kellyn Acosta. So I'm not sure I understand completely what went wrong.
     
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  24. dspence2311

    dspence2311 Member+

    Oct 14, 2007
    Lol. Is this what Craig meant when he said “you have to come at me with some data“?
     
  25. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Nice try but you can't convince me that you really don't know the difference between October and August...

    Fortunately MLSsoccer.com has a very handy match log!
    https://www.mlssoccer.com/players/ricardo-pepi/match-log/

    Pepi:
    9/29: 1 goal
    9/14: 1 assist
    9/11: 1 goal
    8/29: 2 goals 1 assist
    8/21: 1 goal

    But they're pimping a guy whose G+A/90 ranks... where exactly, among Americans forwards in MLS this year??

    G+A/90
    Dike: 0.82
    Pepi: 0.75
    Brian White: 0.77
    Toye: 0.70
    Sapong: 0.68
    Mihailovic: 0.68 (not a forward)
    Picault: 0.63 (winger)
    Arriola: 0.60 (winger who is no threat to score for USMNT against non-minnows)
    Ferreira: 0.60 (used all over)
    Rubin: 0.59
    Kljestan: 0.59 (midfielder who is 36 and close to retirement)
    Jonathan Lewis: 0.58 (winger discarded from USMNT as not good enough)
    Zardes: 0.53
    Cowell: 0.49 (mostly used as a winger recently)
    Clark: 0.48 (not a forward and has fallen off the map recently)
    Roldan: 0.47 (winger who is no threat to score for the USMNT in 29 caps)

    That is post brace vs Inter Miami that was apparently important enough to get on the USMNT Insta radar...

    See above... and that's without considering Pefok, Hoppe, Sargent, etc.
     

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